Page 3 of Enzo (The Amato Family #2)
K ail’s family are a bunch of crazies, and the best sort of entertainment. When my phone had buzzed a number of times in succession, I’d pulled it out to make sure I wasn’t missing anything Amato related, and the glimpse I got of the texts has me grinning now as I put it back in my pocket.
When Roman and Leandro leave their last class of the day, I dutifully follow in their wake along with the other guards.
We get a few stares, as we always do, but the boys are immune to their peers, and we’re attuned to anything that could be a threat.
Not that any of us are really worried; the threat levels are never zero, but they’re lower on campus.
Plus, Boston is at Leandro’s side, and she’s a formidable opponent and one of the best guards on the team.
The boys split up, as Leandro has tutoring on campus—even though he’s the last person who would ever need help with schoolwork. The boy is scary smart. Whatever he’s doing with the poor tutor, I just hope he leaves him a little sane.
Roman is quiet on the drive, but that’s not unusual when he’s alone.
It’s a big difference from when he was a chatty, bratty teenager, and while some of it could be chalked up to him growing up, I know a lot of it has to do with Tennant and Hollis.
I’ve been on Roman’s guard since the day he was born, and I know the boy inside and out.
Over the last year and a half I’ve seen the change in him—how having his lovers has steadied him and helped him find his voice.
Roman has never been a quiet person, but the weight of expectations has always settled heavy on his slim shoulders.
He’s unapologetically himself, but with that comes the fear he’ll let his father down.
It’s bullshit. Everyone who’s ever met Roman and Cristian knows the man dotes on his son and could never be anything but proud, but somehow Roman doesn’t see that.
Having Tennant and Hollis in his life has helped him grow into his own, the two giving him a soft place to land and…a firm hand when he gets too in his head. Or when he’s being a little shit and disregards safety protocols.
“Fucking hell,” Luigi mutters as he jerks the wheel to one side, making the car swerve.
“What—” Roman starts to say, at the same time I see what Luigi saw.
Too bad we’re all too late.
Metal and glass fly everywhere as we’re hit head on.
The front of our SUV crumples, and searing pain makes my vision blackout for a moment as the dash collapses with the force and falls onto my legs. Glass embeds itself into my skin, but the cuts are inconsequential compared to the fact that by the time the car stops moving I realize I can’t move.
“Roman!” I bark, praying he’s okay. When he doesn’t answer straight away, my heart leaps into my throat and I try to look into the back seat, though the searing pain throughout my body tells me why that’s a bad idea .
“Roman!” I call his name a few more times.
There’s a groan and then “Present,” he says in a weak voice.
“Are you okay?”
“Y-yeah, mostly.”
The pain is blinding, and it takes all my concentration to focus on what needs to happen. “G-got your…gun?”
“Yes…”
Darkness creeps into my vision. “Good… Now you n-need to go.”
“What?”
“Go, R-Roman!” I yell with the last of my strength. “I…it’s bad.” Everything is quickly being swallowed up by the darkness, but as I was trained to be, I’m more concerned with getting Roman out of the situation than my own safety. So as the world dims, I manage to get one final word out. “Go.”
Distantly, I hear more glass breaking, and as the pain and darkness swallow me whole, I fall into it, secure in the knowledge that if nothing else, I did what I swore I would always do: protect Roman Amato until my dying breath.